Recruiting is evolving. Fast. Faster than any time in my 15+ years in corporate recruiting. There are many contributing factors: social media, the maturation of employer branding, the prevalence of mobile devices (and their ability to reach a new ‘always on’ generation), advances in HR technology – just to name a few.
These changes in the recruiting marketplace are happening at a pace most corporate recruiting teams struggle to keep up with. It’s created a new crop of consulting firms (like mine) who help them navigate these new waters. There is a lot of opportunity in this new world.
These industry shifts have also spawned a new crop of hyperbolic statements, unicorn statements, about the state of recruiting. Views I feel are beginning to become more and more disconnected with the trench recruiting realities on the ground for most companies. These unicorn views aren’t rooted in the realities most recruiting teams face.
The Resume Is Dead.
No, it’s not. One of the most popular unicorn statements is that the resume is dead. That in the age of social media the resume is a stagnant relic from recruiting’s past that has outlived it’s utility. There are three glaring flaws with this point of view.
This unicorn statement assumes all the prospects our organizations might hire are active on social media. Not just active, but so active they leave enough breadcrumbs for hiring teams to understand what they do, how well they do it, and ideally whether they’re a cultural fit for good measure. That’s just not reality for the across all industries and the universe of prospects we might hire.
Let’s assume there is enough accessible social data to make an informed decision on all prospect’s suitability (there isn’t). How are companies who hire at scale supposed to manage that approach? 50,000 global hires in a fiscal year? Super, fire up the social media aggregator!
Another point for trench recruiting, but certainly not least in sheer sexiness of subject, is compliance.
Big Data And Algorithms Will Replace Recruiters Soon.
No, it won’t. Don’t get me wrong – I’m all for technology (with the podcasting bona fides to prove it). I do think algorithms will enhance corporate recruiting capabilities over time. If you drink the kool aid, that “over time” is allegedly next year.
Really? There will definitely be companies and new HR technology that will enable this in 2015, but to think it will be mainstream is naïve. To sell it as truth is irresponsible.
Most corporate recruiting teams aren’t even mining their ATS for talent. They’re just beginning to incorporate social media and employer branding into their talent strategy. CRM is something that’s beginning to gain traction as we continue to adopt more marketing tactics and sensibilities into corporate recruiting.
That’s the real reality most corporate recruiting teams face. We’re getting there, but our evolution and adoption curve is iterative and we’re still a few stages behind.
There’s Never Been a Better Time to be 
a Recruiter.
I believe this. There are a variety of career paths, tools, and techniques that recruiters can pursue. There’s room for “old school recruiters” who just want to make placements with their rolodex and phone. There’s room for more creative types with a marketer’s DNA who want to lead branding efforts. There’s room for analytic types who want to crunch talent management numbers, find correlation, and develop strategy.
Let’s kill these unicorns and celebrate this diversity of recruiting career possibilities. There will be a time in the future when these unicorns are commonplace, but it’s not today.
What’s your take on these unicorns? Or others? Am I missing something?
Tell us below which unicorn you’d like to kill in 2015.
About the Author: Lars Schmidt has been leading progressive recruiting and talent teams for the past over 15 years. He was instrumental in developing innovative talent strategies at NPR, recognized by Mashable, Wall Street Journal, and Washington Post, and others. In prior roles Lars was responsible for creating scalable high-growth global talent strategies at Ticketmaster, Magento, and several startups in Los Angeles. He received his B.S. in Marketing and Multinational Business from Florida State University.
Lars is a fierce advocate for progressive HR with a strong track record in leveraging innovative talent and recruiting strategies. He was named a “Top 100 Influencer” by HR Examiner and “Top 100 Most Social HR Leaders on Twitter” by The Huffington Post. He’s also the founder of Amplify Talent where he writes and speaks about talent and recruiting trends, social media, leadership, recruiting tools and technology.
You can follow him on Twitter at @ThisIsLars or connect with him LinkedIn.
By Lars Schmidt
Recruit Smarter
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